George Carlin, one of America’s greatest comedians and comedic social critics, passed away on Monday. America will miss him.

Here’s several good stories (and radio reports) on George from NPR. RIP!

The next episode (coming tomorrow) will talk about…curses! 욕! Whoo hoo!

Are there too many foreign (especially western) models working in the Korean underwear modeling industry?

The Sports Chosun did a little . . .uh, research into the issue, and Korea Beat kindly translated it into English There’s also a discussion going on over at FeetManSeoul. The Grand Narrative has also talked about this topic in great detail, and found some research that says it’s not just underwear (PDF) that’s being hawked to Koreans using foreign faces. . .

Personally, nobody’s talking about what really interests me: Are the men in those underoos more likely to be foreign as well? Hmm, time to do some . . .uh, research.

Go read a post I wrote about Sex and the City on FeetManSeoul.com – good English practice, with Korean translation, too!

Wow. Double wow. A cure for cancer within a few years? And from a retiree without a college education or medical background? You gotta watch this story. Truly inspiring, truly. You can also read the story while listening to the video. Also, you can double-click on any word, and the definition will pop up. Thanks, CBS News. This is great for English study!

That’s simply unbelievable. And I mean that in the sense of being incredulously hopeful, not cynically dismissive. Thank you, Mr. Kanzius. You just might be the man who saves billions of lives. And all from banging around pots in your kitchen.

Michael의 편지가 OhMyNews에서 나온 건데 물론 꼭 영어에 대한 주제가 아닌데 우리 폭탄영어란 사이트를 운영하는 Michael의 친구이니까 한마디하고 싶었죠. 그래서 오마이뉴스에서 나온 거고요:

여기는 Part 1 / Part 2

Michael taped 3 interviews with her for the SeoulGlow show, of which this is the third. At this point, she has become one of the final two candidates, but the final decision had not been made…

이소연씨와 한 세번의 인터뷰 중 세번째 에피소드 입니다. 현재 최종 두 호보에는 들었지만, 아직 최종 결정은 나오지 않았습니다.

In Episode 9 of Bomb English, Mike and I discussed Korean fashion and touched briefly on the fact that women in Korea really feel the need to look good, all the time. While American women overall probably spend less time, less often than Korean women, there’s still some pressure to “look good” for high-profile positions.

Even for women who keep their makeup and hairstyles minimal and easy to manage, it still usually takes women longer than men to get ready for the day. This means that women have to devote part of their time each day to preparing their physical appearance, which means that men are given more “productive” time each day - they can sleep or relax or work or read or whatever, while women are socially required to be working on looking a certain way.

Think about it . . . how much time does a Korean guy spend each day getting ready to go to school or work? What does he have to do?

Now, think about an average Korean woman? What does she have to do each day before she can head out the door?
An article in the LA Times and on Slate Magazine examines this idea by looking at what it means for the Democratic candidates for US president this election, so if you have some spare time, we recommend you give it a read.

I’m sad to report that Arthur C Clarke has died. We actually mentioned him just this week on our show. I had just rewatched 2001 (한국어 설명) very recently and was re-impressed with his vision for humanity.

If you haven’t seen this great film, I do suggest you watch it — it has just been re-released on special edition DVD and is truly one of the masterpieces of both science fiction literature, as well as one of the most important films ever made.

RIP, Mr. Clarke.

I wrote an article about Lee Soyeon’s having become the 1st astronaut, after Ko San was removed by the Russians. Soyeon deserves her place, and is an amazing candidate, but unfortunately, few people have had the chance to get to know her. Now, you can.

Here’s the link to the Ohmynews.com article I wrote about her, based on the ONLY interviews done BEFORE she was chosen. I think the interviews show just how qualified she is, as well as just how great of a representative she can be for the Korean people.

Made for a video podcast I started in 2006 called SeoulGlow, the videos are always subtitled so that any Korean or English speaker can watch them. Like Bomb English, it is good study material that is interesting content as well.

Enjoy!

Jennifer가 한국의 최초의 FeetManSeoul이란 스트리트패션 잡지에서 글도 쓰는데 이번에 그 잡지의 기자로써 영문신문에서도 패션 컬럼해요. 몰랐죠? 가끔씩 Korea Herald의 Expat Living 부분에서 컬럼도해요. 밑에는 신문을 직적보셔도 되고 그리고 밑에 텍스트도 나와요. 다른 여러가지 사진을 보고 싶다면 FMS으로 가시죠?

(more…)

내 오마이뉴스에 나오는 주간 컬럼에서 한국에서 일어나는 이슈에 대해 논의하는 거예요. 약간 공격적으로. 음. 사실 많이 공격적으로 내 의견을 던지는 거죠. 근데 이렇게 해서 좋은 대화나 생각하기가 시작할 수 있는 거죠. 한번 읽으보시죠?

Here are two interesting radio/print stories about “bhangra,” a traditional Indian dance, which has become surprisingly popular in American colleges (no transcript) and dance clubs (transcript). Click on the “Listen now” link at the top of the articles.

That was a YouTube video of a bhangra performance at the University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC). No wonder it’s popular! It looks like traditional dance + aerobic exercise + hip hop. At some universities, it’s even an official competitive sport. Now, I want to go learn bhangra!

이 폭탄영어를 하면서 우리 독자들 중에 오마이뉴스에서 일하시는 분에계 소개를 받았는데 컬럼을 쓰게 됐네요! 한번 읽으보세요: “주한 외국인은 ‘대신 매맞는 소년’?”

쌩유!